17 Aug 2020

Dixon pipped for pole at Indy 500

8:53 am on 17 August 2020

Scott Dixon has been pipped for pole position for next week's Indianapolis 500.

The current Indy Car series leader was edged out in the dying stages of qualifying by Marco Andretti, who will start from pole.

Andretti's drive snapped the infamous "Andretti Curse" at Indianapolis Motor Speedway meaning and Andretti will start on pole in the race for the first time in 33 years.

Mario Andretti won his third and final pole for the Indy 500 in 1987, when grandson Marco was just two months old.

Scott Dixon posted a four-lap average of 231.051 mph (nearly 372 kph) to take over the top spot and held it until Marco Andretti went out last.

Scott Dixon narrowly missed out on gaining pole position for this year's Indy 500.

Scott Dixon narrowly missed out on gaining pole position for this year's Indy 500. Photo: Chip Ganassi/Twitter

"He deserves it. I know what this place means to his family and especially him," Dixon said.

"He did a good job even under this pressure to make it work. If anyone was going to do it, I hoped it was Marco."

"I was definitely watching (Marco Andretti)," Dixon said.

"Sometimes you don't want to know the results, right? We knew (Andretti) were going to be strong. Right from the get-go, I knew Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) was going to be a good sort of benchmark, and the same with (Alexander) Rossi, because it looked like he was more trimmed out than the rest of them, a little more aggressive. Unfortunately, it was not quite enough.

"There's so many things, I think, through the run that you could definitely equate maybe to going that little bit faster. I'm sure they had similar issues on their side."

The pole position is the sixth of Marco Andretti's Indycar career and the 42nd Indycar pole by cars owned by his father Michael Andretti.

Marco Andretti

Marco Andretti Photo: Supplied/Indy500

"I was joking with Dad.... that 'This is probably like my third legitimate shot as far as just outright pace in 15 years.'

"When I lost the '500' in 2006, you saw me mad because I knew that it is possible that 15 years later I'm talking to you guys and I haven't won one yet. That's why I was so mad."

"It's a tough place. Last year I had the worst race of my career. Here we are, we can win it."

Nearly every driver in the field made their way to pit lane to congratulate Andretti, who like his father has been haunted at Indianapolis.

Marco Andretti has never improved on his runner-up finish as a rookie in 2006. His father, who never won a pole, finished second in 1991.